So Which One of Us Is It?
by DaniPep
Summary: Hermione gets distracted in the library and her doodles get her in a sticky situation...Fremione, first time posting a fic! Multi-chapter, WIP Rated T for future interactions
1. I Heart Weasley

"We saw what you were just writing Granger," George purred from behind Hermione, taking her by surprise and causing her to jump.

"Don't try to hide it now, we already know," Fred continued when he saw Hermione's cheeks flush red. He slid into the chair next to her smoothly, leaving his arm around her shoulder.

"I heart Weasley," the twins said together, mockingly.

Hermione shut her book firmly, making it snap. "I don't know what you're talking about. I was only doing my potions essay." Her voice was filled with the false confidence that was always a telltale sign of a lie.

"Oh, cmon, we're not Ron," George groaned. "We'd be killing our reputations if we couldn't even detect someone else's lie!"

Hermione was painfully aware of Fred's arm around her shoulder. She obviously had been writing "I 3 Weasley" on her parchment, in a distracted state. The two red headed twins, one of which she was referencing in her subconscious doodling, had entered the library and she hadn't even noticed. She shook her head furiously in panicky denial (although she hoped it looked less panicky and more denial-y). The twins laughed in sync, enjoying the apparently obvious panic.

"So, let's do this the easy way," Fred grinned. "We know it's not Bill because he's married. And it's not Charlie 'cause you barely know him." Fred scratched his chin in mock thought. Hermione sighed in resignation. There was no escaping these two when they had their minds set on something.

"Hmm, very valid points Freddie! In that case, we also know it's not Perce...he's just a git. And you've already dated Ron and been down that nasty road, eh?" George teased, and poked her arm. Hermione rolled her eyes impatiently.

"And Ginny's a girl, so it's not her. Unless, you know, you're into that kind of thing," Fred waggled his eyebrows, a wicked smile plastered to his face.

Hermione hit him with her book. Her face had gotten even more red, if possible, each time they crossed another Weasley off their "list", narrowing it down. There was no way they didn't know at this point, considering Arthur was the only male Weasley left. She almost shuddered at the though.

"Which means," George began, pausing to add suspense.

"Which one of us is it?" Fred concluded for his twin. They were both leaning forward to get closer to her. The typical "we're doing something mischievous" grins on their faces were unbearable. Hermione sat speechless for a moment, her mouth slightly ajar, attempting to say something- anything to get herself out of this mess.

"I...er...I told you I was just doing my potions essay," she mumbled. "I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to stand up, but the twins on either side of her grabbed her arms.

"Leaving so soon, Granger?" Fred crooned, standing up as well.

"Don't worry, we were just about to leave as well," George grinned. "We won't kick you out of the library, we know how you love it here...but first," George glanced at his twin and winked. That was the cue. Two pairs of identical lips were on both of Hermione's cheeks, gone as quickly as they had appeared. She gasped, and a hand flew up to the cheek Fred had kissed.

"HA!" Fred yelled. Hermione realized she'd made a horrible mistake. "Told ya, Georgie. I knew I'm the better looking twin."  
"Aw, c'mon Granger," George sighed. "You just lost me 10 sickles."


	2. The Flood of Gryffindor Tower

"Oh, George!" Hermione cried, smacking his arm. She picked up her books in a hurry and scurried out of the library, cheeks fire red. She knew that the twins had to have an inkling that she liked one of them...she'd been going easier on them with punishments for pranking lately. They'd even approached her about it, but she brushed it off to them. But now she'd just confirmed it for them for sure. She had reacted when Fred kissed her and not George. It was a stupid mistake. How could she, Hermione Granger, be so...so..._dumb_!

After she stepped through the portrait hole into Gryffindor Tower, Hermione practically ran to her bed. She was not about to sit there and be interrogated by Harry and Ron as well as risk seeing Fred. There was no avoiding Ginny though. Hermione caught the subtle glance Ginny threw at her, even through the tears blurring her vision. "I'll be right back..." she faintly heard Ginny tell Dean.

"Mione?" Ginny asked quietly, carefully pushing the curtains back on Hermione's bed. "Oh,_ Mione_," she murmured at the sight of the crying girl. "What's wrong, what happened?" She sat up on the bed next to Mione, rubbing her back to comfort her.

Hermione sniffed, wiping tears off of her cheeks trying to speak. She laughed, the self-pitying kind of laugh that people do when they've been crying. "It's...It really wasn't that big of a deal, just...oh Ginny, I don't want to sound terrible, but your horrible, horrible brothers!" Ginny rolled her eyes, out of Hermione's sight. Of course, she thought. Fred and George knew exactly how to push people over the edge. "They tricked me."

Ginny sighed. "Honey, it's Fred and George..." she said, confused that Hermione was offended by whatever they'd done. "They always prank people, you know they never mean anything by it." She tried to keep her tone soft and soothing, but it was a feat when talking about Fred and George.

"No, no it wasn't just a prank like they normally do. That would have been...nice. And no, this wasn't as bad as I guess I'm making it out to be. They just tricked me into confirming that I have a...oh gosh," she paused, more tears falling. "I have a crush on Fred, okay!" Hermione covered her face with her hands and mumbled into them, "Why me, oh why couldn't I just have a crush on someone..._safe_."

Ginny found this to be hilarious, for some reason. "Safe? Hermione Jean Granger, please tell me the last time that you did something you'd qualify as 'safe'. Breaking into the Ministry, making polyjuice potion in an abandoned bathroom...you're the farthest thing from safe. And if you had a crush on someone you deem safe, you'd be bored out of your mind." Hermione had stopped crying at this.

"You think so?" Now that she thought about it, Ginny was probably right. Why hadn't she wanted to date Cormac? Too boring. And Krum? Same story. She sighed. "But still, there's no way Fred would ever like a girl like me Ginny, and you know it."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," a familiar male voice answered.

_Shit. _Hermione thought.

_**A/N: Okay so I really wanted to get this up but I didn't have time to go through and look for spelling/grammar errors or edit at all (so basically what I'm saying is that I wrote this in about half an hour and now it's being uploaded 31 minutes later.) I probably won't update again until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. Please review! Even if they're negative it will help me make it better! Love you all!**_


	3. Intruder Alert

A/N:** I'm so sorry I know I said I would update on Monday or Tuesday but I just never got around to it. Better late than never right? Don't hate me. :( Anywho, please review it will make me the happiest ever! Oh, and this one is about 300 words longer than the first two, so yay me! :D**

Shit, Hermione thought. Not him, not now...

"George Fabian Weasley, do you want to get murdered right now?" Ginny threatened, drawing her wand. Hermione let out a sigh of relief. She'd immediately jumped to the conclusion that Fred was the intruder.

"Ah, yes, sister of mine, those were my intentions exactly. You guessed my current plan. At least, until my idiot of a twin brother stops acting like a prat that is." George casually leaned against the doorframe, and sighed. Hermione had confusion written all over her face. She wanted to ask what he'd meant, but then again talking about Fred to his best friend and twin wasn't the smartest idea. Luckily, Ginny was just as curious.

"What's his issue?" she asked, turning to actually face George, thinking the same thing as Hermione. There was no way he was worse off than she, unless of course Fred was down in the common room acting like Malfoy trapped in a room of muggleborns.

"He's obviously got a major crush on Mione dearest here," he began. Hermione immediately felt her spirits lift...only to have them sink again. The twins, notorious pranksters, were just pulling one over on her. They had to be. "But he's afraid to admit it to anyone. Even himself," George continued.

Hermione laughed sourly. "Right, and I'm secretly You-Know-Who, infiltrating Hogwarts and planning an attack," she said bitterly. George held his hands up defensively.

"No need to get snippy Granger," he mumbled. "I know what you're worried about. But trust me, Fred's got it bad. Just like you," he winked. "I never thought he'd have a thing for you though. I mean, your crush was obvious once we saw your little doodles, or 'potions essay' as you were calling it, but Fred's just good at hiding that stuff I guess." George shrugged nonchalantly. Apparently George was used to knowing things about his twin before Fred himself did.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Not to break your spirits Mione, but I wouldn't trust a word he says." Hermione nodded in agreement. She had no reason whatsoever to trust George.

"You really don't believe me ladies?" He asked as if he could feel the disbelief for himself. "Go check for yourselves. He's down in the common room." George gestured to the door. Hermione wiped the remaining tears off her cheeks.

"Ginny...could you...er, I don't believe him of course but...you know...I can't leave the common room like this and I just want to...oh, I don't know," Hermione whispered, flustered. Ginny patted Hermione's knee.

"I can go check it out I suppose. I need to tell Dean I won't be back anyway," she sighed and gave the distraught girl a sad, comforting smile. Hermione smiled weakly in thanks. George elected to stay while Ginny was gone. As soon as she walked out, he practically ran to Mione's bed and sat down.

"Listen, Mione, that was all true, in a sense. Except one thing. I had to get Ginny out before I could tell you. I'm not George, George is down in the common room probably snogging Angelina. But I do like you. And it isn't just a joke either, I swear Mione." Hermione's eyes got wide.

"Frederick Gideon Weasley, how dare you!" she yelled, and slapped him. How could he think he was allowed to just stroll into the girls dorm pretending to be his twin brother then profess his crush on her when he knew very well the amount of stress it would put Hermione under when she discovered the truth.

Fred just laughed. "Aw, c'mon Mione, I'm being serious!" He kissed her cheek like earlier, quickly. "That blush right there tells me you've definitely got it just as bad for me as I've got it for you," he said and winked.

Hermione rolled her eyes, not denying the blush. She twiddled her thumbs and avoided eye contact. "So why can't Ginny know you're Fred?" she asked almost forgetting how angry she'd been about ten seconds because all she could think about was Fred kisiding her cheek.

Ginny's set on you dating Ron still!" Hermione sighed, knowing how true the statement was. "And I wanted to ask you, if you'd like, to be my girlfriend," he added slowly. "It'd be romantic and secretive because we can't have poor Ronnie all depressed now can we?" Fred sounded sad. He brushed a strand of hair away from Hermione's face.

Hermione was speechless at first. This was totally ridiculous. Of course she'd love to date Fred. But how could she be sure that this wasn't a joke? And wasn't Fred moving very quickly for just discovering that Hermione had any feelings at all for him just hours ago? "I...er-"

"George, you git! I knew you were lying! He's down there snogging Angelina as we speak!" Ginny exclaimed as she barged into the dorm again.

Fred winked at Hermione and whispered, "Told ya." He stood up and started to walk towards the door. "Guess I was wrong then." He shrugged. "I'll see you later then. Talk to you later Mione," he said casually and strolled out the door like nothing had happened just seconds before.

"What a prat!" Ginny huffed.


	4. The Most Important Meal of the Day

A/N: Before we begin today, I'd just like to say hellloooooo and I hope you like this chapter and thank you for being here again even though I'm beginning to hate myself for making this a multi-chap because I'm very skilled in the art of running stories into the ground and yes. ALSO, fullofpassion09 I see where you're coming from, because I've read some fics where this happened and it just didn't work. But I'm hoping to make it to where Fred and Mione are less "NO ONE CAN KNOW!1!" And more "Okay, we're not going to advertise the fact that we're together but were not necessarily going to avoid each other at all costs either". Does that make sense? XD Anywho, please enjoy this chapter and review and favorite if you wanna and follow I guess so yeah okay I'm going to go now byebye! Sorry this one is sort of short.

_Maybe yesterday was all just a bad dream_, Hermione thought with a sigh as she walked through the Great Hall with Harry and Ron to their normal table. It wouldn't be too bad...her and Fred together would be nice. But then again, she still half believed that this was all some prank the twins were playing on her...she'd have to wait and see how breakfast went to really judge the situation.

"Hermione?" Harry's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Hmm? I'm sorry, I'm just a bit distracted this morning. I'm, er...thinking about that potions essay Snape assigned yesterday!" she stuttered, staring at the ground as she walked, wide eyed. Eye contact was bad when she was lying. Even though she was only half lying...none of this would be happening without that ridiculous essay.

Ron laughed. "Only you would be thinking about an essay that's not due for another week," he teased. Hermione forced a bit of laughter as she sat down and poured herself a glass of orange juice.

"You never answered my question, Hermione!" Harry reminded her.

"I'm sorry, what was the question?" She felt her cheeks flush bright red. Partially because she felt bad for not paying attention to Harry, but also because a certain pair of red headed twins were making their way towards her, grinning. Fred winked when he got close enough and took a seat next to her.

"Morning all!" he greeted, interrupting Harry again. Mumbled 'good morning's were heard from everyone within hearing distance. It was quiet for a moment at the table as people began to actually eat. Fred cleared his throat, definitely not the most inconspicuous way to get Hermione's attention, but it worked. She glanced up into his blue eyes and he just smiled. A confused look spread across her face. He's slipped a folded up piece of paper into her hand. She started to bring it up above the table, but Fred's hand pressed her arm back down.

"Not now," he whispered. "So Harry! Ready for the big match tonight? Better load up this morning, gotta keep up your strength you know, Wood'll kill you if..." Hermione stopped listening. Fred had causally slipped his arm around her waist amidst the conversation, making her cheeks turned bright scarlet. She sat up straight and looked down at her plate in an attempt to hide the blush. _I thought this was supposed to be a secret?_ she thought, thoroughly confused.

Hermione had never really dated anyone before. She wasn't sure exactly how to react in situations like this, and the fact that their relationship had special "secret" circumstances, it made this whole scenario even more difficult. But she'd have to adjust. She wasn't going to let Fred get away all because of her inability to be "flirty".

The rest of breakfast passed in a blur, Hermione only focusing on Fred's strong hand resting on her hip. As everyone started to finish up eating and make their way to class Fred leaned close to Hermione.

"I'm going to leave, but I want you to follow me. Just wait a few seconds and tell everyone you're...going to the library or something before class," he murmured. She nodded slightly, trying to smile.


	5. To the Library We Go

**_A/N_**: _To my dear "guest" reviewer, inquiring about the ages of our lovely pair, Fred is in his 7th year and Hermione is in her 5th. It's the very beginning of the year...Well October-ish. Also, that puts us in the year 1996 if I'm thinking straight. (It is 1 AM so please excuse my errors here. :P) Now that we've got that straightened up, I'd like to say that I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. It's not very exciting but there is a tiny bit of fluff I suppose. Anywho, please review and tell me how I can make the next chapter better! You people are amazing! 3_

"Well, like I said earlier, can't get that essay of my mind, I think I'm going to go to the library to start on it before class. I'll see you both in charms!" Hermione said cheerily as she scooped up her books and stood up from the table. Harry and Ron waved goodbye, not suspicious at all. Of course, they had no reason to be, Hermione reminded herself.

No matter how cheery she had sounded, inside she was a mess of nervousness. She was still in that 'he's too good to be real' phase and her stomach was in knots. She pushed open the huge Great Hall doors and walked out, only to immediately be caught and pulled to the side by none other than Fred.

"Thought you might be standing me up for a bit there, but I knew better than that," he said with a wink. Hermione blushed but tried to think of a cheeky line to come back with quickly.

"Yes, well, with you being...you...I can't see any reason to stand you up." Not exactly calm, cool, or collected, but it worked in place of an awkward silence. Luckily Fred found her comment funny and rolled his eyes, teasing her. She relaxed immensely at this. He was good at that, she noticed. Making her feel at ease.

"I just figured we should continue our conversation from last night, you know the one where you were drooling all over me, and I was a bit hesitant to make you my girlfriend?" He grinned, obviously being sarcastic.

"Fred! That's not how it- oh. You're just joking. Right." She made a mental note to _remember who she was talking to. _

Fred was enjoying embarrassing her. "You know, you're pretty cute when you're flustered." They had sat down by this point, leaning against a wall just barely outside the Great Hall. They both sat silently for a moment, like they were daydreaming, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Fred had taken hold of her hand, Hermione noticed, although she couldn't remember exactly when. Strange.

"Anyway," he said, snapping back into reality. At that moment, people began to leave the Great Hall. "Fantastic," he sighed. "I knew I was forgetting something. Time." He stood up, and offered his hand to help Hermione do the same. "I was going to _officially_ ask you to be my girlfriend, since that didn't really happen last night." He smiled and ran a hand through his hair.

Hermione hugged him quickly. "I'd love to," she chirped, looking up into his eyes. Her arms were still wrapped around him.

"Perfecto." He laughed at wot peculiar word choice, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"On second thought..." she teased.

"Oh, c'mon Mione you wouldn't leave me this early," he winked. "So, now that we're actually factually together, I formally give you, Hermione Jean Granger, permission to read the oh-so-secret note. But for now, I must bid you adieu or risk you being late to class and we could never have that, now could we?" He kissed her cheek lightly. "See you this evening, darling," he said, drawing out the last word. Leave it to Fred to make it a joke.

Hermione giggled, a very un-Hermione like action, that would soon become very Hermione like. "Goodbye Fred," she laughed, pushing him away softly.


	6. Blast From The Past

**A/N:** _SURPRISE SURPRISE I actually like this chapter. That's why I'm posting so quickly, go me! I hope you don't get too confused but yeah we'll see. Please review and tell me what you think! Alsoo, if you have anything you for sure want to see happen with our lovely couple let me know and I'll think about working it in. I love new ideas. Thanks for reading. I also just realized I never do disclaimers so HERE I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS OR THE HARRY POTTER FRANCHISE etc etc. I love you guys!_

"Why were you with Fred this morning?"

Hermione froze in the middle of the hallway and turned around slowly. Of course Ginny would have seen. Ginny had divination first thing, the farthest classroom from the Great Hall...what a stupid mistake! "I was just...asking him to take down the posters in the common room again," she lied quickly.

Ginny laughed. "Alright Hermione, I saw him kiss you. Now tell me what you were really talking about!" she insisted. Leave it to Ginny to only care about the gossip that would come out of this.

Hermione could tell she was blushing, but there was no way she'd actually admit to Ginny that she was dating Fred. Not yet anyway. She sighed aloud, attempting to sound distressed. "It was George. He was pretending to be Fred to get a rise out of me." She paused and remembered an important detail. "That's why I pushed him away right after." How convenient. Maybe lying wasn't so difficult after all.

"Oh." Ginny said, trying to mask her disappointment. "Well, anyway, you're still going to fall for Ron soon I just know it!" she grinned. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I really doubt it, Gin. I mean, there's nothing wrong with Ron, really, it's just...he's like my brother. Why don't you imagine dating him! That's how I sort of feel about it." This was the truth. Hopefully Ginny would understand better now...and the sooner she understood that Ron would always be terrible for Hermione, the sooner she could learn how absolutely perfect Fred was for her now.

Ginny shuddered. "Alright, I guess I sort of see your point. I guess we won't be sister in laws then..." She sighed dramatically.

_Great._ Hermione sighed. _She's playing the guilt card to make me fall for Ron. Well it's not happening, especially not now!_ "I've got to get to class Ginny, I'll see you after while," Hermione said quickly, trying to get out of this dreadful conversation. She turned into the hallway on her right, and luckily found there was no one in sight. Perfect time to open the note!

She tore through her backpack searching for the small, folded up piece of parchment. _I wonder what it says, and why I needed to wait?Maybe its a map he drew to a secret romantic date he's planned...or maybe he's finally admitting this was all just a prank.._. Hermione's heart sunk. She still couldn't believe any of this was true, and with that idea creeping into her mind she felt less urgency to find the note. When she found it, she noticed that it looked old and yellowing compared to normal parchment. Weird.

As she began to unfold the paper, it flew up out of her hand and unfolded itself, levitating in the air in front of her face and shooting confetti out the middle. So Fred-like. Finally the confetti stopped and her heart was pounding as she scrambled to read it as fast as she could. It appeared to be a series of notes written sloppily all over the paper, by two different people. Each individual conversation was circled separately to avoid confusion. Why would he want her to see this? She started to read the first circle.

_Dear Hermione,_  
_ Before you begin reading, I just want to fill you in a bit. This is from a notebook George and I use to write down our prank ideas, and to discuss them in class. As you'll see, we discuss other things too. Don't worry, nothing inappropriate, although I should mention this is a page I found from my third year so please excuse any spelling errors. I wasn't nearly as bright as you. I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did._

_ Love,_  
_ Fred_

Intrigued, she moved immediately to the second circle of notes.

_Who's that girl with our little brother there?_  
**Dunno but according to everyone she's bloody briliant. Could probably be in our grade and still doing better then us**  
_Woah. Suppose she's be helpful to us then..._  
**My thoughts exactly. I knew we were twins for a reason**.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh as she imagine the twins lusting over her brain for their pranks. Like she'd ever help them with that...She moved on to circle three.

_You know what?_  
**what**  
_That granger girl, Rons friend?_  
**the one who refuses to use her powers for good rather than evil, yeah**  
_she's a bit cute_

Hermione blushed at this one. She could only imagine the look George had given Fred when he wrote this. The fourth circle looked a bit different. A large scribble took up a big portion of it.

**FRED YOU'VE GOT A CRUSH ON HERMIONE**  
_I have not!_  
**i saw that**  
_i was just scribbling george_  
**yeah scribbling over the spot where you wrote FW + HG you're like a little girl**!  
_shove off_

Wait wait wait. Fred had had a crush on Hermione for four years now? She caught herself smiling. It obviously wasn't a prank. Her heart was pounding happily. There was one more circle on the page, one last little conversation. Just as she looked down to read it, a voice brought her back to reality.

"Hermione, we've been looking all over for- what's this?" Came Ron's voice from behind her. "Why've you got a page from Fred and George's notebook? I'd recognize that mess that they call handwriting anywhere..."


	7. That Was A Close One

_"Hermione, we've been looking all over for- what's this?" Came Ron's voice from behind her. "Why've you got a page from Fred and George's notebook? I'd recognize that mess that they call handwriting anywhere..."_

Hermione froze. Her brain, for the first time in her life, seemed to not be working. It was like her vocal chords had snapped. _Just say something, anything is better than silence, come on Hermione! Tell them you're helping with a prank or just found it on the floor, but hurry!_she thought in a panic, but nothing came to mind that she really wanted to say. The truth was out of the question, but she hated to lie to her best friends. She looked like a deer in the headlights. Harry and Ron gave her a peculiar look.

Harry waved his hand in front of her face. "Is everything alright...?" he asked cautiously. The two boys looked a bit nervous. Hermione was obviously acting strange and they could tell. And today wasn't the first time they'd noticed. Over the past few weeks she'd been a bit distant in general, but this was a whole new level.

"Yes, everything is just fine," she managed to say, the gears in her minds beginning to turn again. The note still floating in plain sight caught her eye. She quickly pulled it from the air and crumpled it up in her hands. "This is...just..." she paused. Why not tell them the partial truth? "It's a note that Fred gave to me this morning." The shocked looks on the boys faces were priceless.

"Fred?!"

"Yeah, what kind of notes is he writing you?"

"It isn't any of your business Ronald!" she replied firmly. His face was bright red. She knew he'd be giving Fred a talking to later. She made a mental note to warn Fred before Ron could really catch him off guard. "Anyway, we're going to be late if we don't get a move on, and you know how Snape is..." she murmured, trying to change the subject as quickly as she could.

Ron looked simply furious still, jealous apparently, but Harry didn't look upset at all. More...understanding. A dawning look crossed his face. He promptly shut his mouth. Hermione's eyes got wide, again. She tried to have an eye conversation with Harry, begging him not to say anything. Harry was her best friend. Of course he would have figured it out at this point. She had been using hair spells lately, to control the bushiness and had even been wearing a hint of makeup. He'd have to have known there was someone she liked, and this made it all clear.

Ron huffed and turned to leave, walking faster than Harry and Hermione. They knew better than to try and catch up with him when he was angry, and this gave Harry and Hermione a good chance to talk anyway.

"So...it's Fred then? The one you've been...well you know." Harry asked quietly.

"Yes," Hermione sighed. "And we've actually begun dating," she added in a whisper. Harry stopped in his tracks. This was a terrible idea.

"You're joking." Now Harry's face shifted to shock. Hermione just grabbed his arm and continued to walk. She knew he'd have to get used to this reaction if she and Fred were ever going to get more serious and actually announce their relationship at some point.

**_A/N_**: _A bit of a boring chapter, but oh well. There will definitely be Fred/Hermione interaction in the next chapter because there hasn't been in the last two now and for that I apologize. Reviews are better than homemade chocolate chip cookies! Love you all! _


	8. That Darn Last Circle

A/N: Hehe I'm excited for you all to read this one. I hope you all enjoy this because I enjoyed writing it. The plot thickens in this one definitely.

"Think she's read it yet?" It was all Fred could think about all day. He was worried it might be too much too soon.

"Knowing Hermione, I'm sure she's read it, analyzed it, and written a three page paper on it by now," George teased his twin. "But of course in the best possible way," he added when Fred went pale.

"I don't want her to _over _analyze it though...especially that last bit. You know how she gets," he sighed.

"Relax Freddie!" George urged, clapping Fred on the shoulder. "We all know Mione's got just as much of a crush on you as you've got on her. Us leaving isn't going to change that. Besides, you're throwing me off. We've got an escape to plan and you being off your mischievous game is making my brain go all funky too."

Fred took a deep breath and tried to forget about that ridiculous final circle he'd added to Hermione's note at the last minute. He felt...dumb, if he was being honest with himself, and Fred Weasley never thought of himself in a negative light. Why did he think telling Mione that he and George were leaving Hogwarts via note would be a good idea?! He couldn't get his mind off of it, and needed a good distraction. There was no way he was going to pay attention to whatever utterly useless "lesson" Umbridge was going on about. He resigned to daydreaming about the shop the twins planned on opening together once they'd escaped.

The day drug on slowly and uneventfully for Hermione. Ron eventually simmered down and started to actually talk to Hermione again before dinner, a shock, as he usually waited at least a full 24 hours before he decided he could stop giving someone the cold shoulder. Hermione understood where he was coming from however, and almost felt bad for him. He'd had a crush on her since their 3rd year at the latest, but she'd never felt the same way. She wasn't worried about Ron staying angry at her though, but staying angry at Fred. Ron hadn't sat near her and she was sure that it was because he assumed Fred would. Instead she sat among Ginny, Angelina, and Katie. The girls gossiped about this and that, but Hermione paid no attention. She made sure to watch the doors for the red headed twins so she could distract Ron just long enough to warn Fred about the coming attack. Luckily, she looked over at just the right time. Right as she saw the twins enter, a large group of people swallowed them up making them practically invisible. She only knew they had made it to the table when Fred's arm snaked around her waist again before he sat down, much like his position at breakfast.

"Hello, Mione dearest," he said with a smile. She leaned into him, smiling.

The smile lasted just for a moment when she remembered the reason she'd been searching so closely for him. "Be ready, Ron's angry. He saw me reading your note today, I don't think he could read it though," she whispered. Fred's cheeks flushed scarlet. Hermione was taken aback. Was Fred...embarrassed?

He blinked several times in succession trying to figure out what she though about the note just from what she'd said. "Don't worry," he murmured. "I've dealt with Ron's mood swings for 15 years now, I think I can handle him one more day." He pulled her closer to him, loving the feeling of her leg touching his and her hip under his hand. She seemed to like the closeness as well and definitely didn't seem angry or upset...Did she not care that he'd be gone in less than a month?

"So...you finished the note then?" he asked quietly. Ron's eyes were practically burning holes into his side from down the table, but he ignored it.

"Yes I did! It was one of the sweetest things I've ever read." She blushed a bit. "Have you really had a crush on me since my first year? Even with all the hair and the huge teeth and..." She stared up into his eyes, smiling.

"Of course, Mione! You were adorable. You still are," he assured her. She still hadn't mentioned his leaving! What was she playing at? "So about the last circle..." he began, not knowing really how to continue.

"Oh that reminds me! I never got around to reading that one because Ron interrupted me." Fred felt a huge weight leave his shoulders.

"You're joking!" he said aloud. Their conversation had been mostly whispers, and the sudden outburst made them a target for curious looks. One curious look in particular, from none other than Ron.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He practically yelled at Fred. "GET YOUR ARM OFF OF HER!"


	9. Woah There, Calm Down Now

A/N: I don't really have much to say for this one...hmm...except I did remember I'm still forgetting to do disclaimers. Whoops. I don't own any of this, I wish. Anywho, thanks for reading and reviewing and all that jazz. You guys are the best.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He practically yelled at Fred. "GET YOUR ARM OFF OF HER!" Ron was standing, glaring at Fred and Hermione from down the table. He had thrown his fists down and shook everyone's plates, knocking over his own drink in the process.

"Ron! Sit down!" Harry could be heard hissing at his friend, although it was a barely audible sound. Ron's expression turned back into one of semi-sanity and he looked around, noticing that practically everyone in Gryffindor was staring. He started to sit down slowly, but turned back to Fred and Hermione, not taking his eyes off them.

"Oh, jealous are we?" Fred called back calmly, bringing both of his arms above the table and crossing them. He was playing the 'make Ron the bad guy' game. Hermione kicked him under the table.

"You're just going to make him angrier!" she whispered frantically. While this was true, she also felt partially bad for Ron. She knew how his brothers- all of them- always gave him the shortest end of the stick. She still cared about Ron's feelings even though he did have a tendency to overreact and get jealous. She would rather have sat down with him and talked about her relationship with Fred rather than have this happen.

"Don't worry, Mione, I've got this under control," he mumbled, not really paying attention to her anymore. He was focused on getting out of this situation and causing the smallest scene possible, something he would normally be trying to do the opposite of.

"I'll be right back." He stood up and walked around the table to where Ron was sitting and sat down next to him. Ron glanced around the table and noticed all the faces still watching intently.

Fred had obviously noticed as well...if there was a single person at the table who wasn't staring he'd have gone into shock. "Nothing to see here, you all can go back to your abnormally boring lives now!" he called out casually, grinning, then turned back to Ron.

Ron's fists were clenched on top of the table and he kept turning back to glare at Hermione. She tried to avoid his glances by staring at her eggs, only watching the boys out of her peripheral vision. She couldn't hear the conversation from where she sat. That wasn't good. Fred would try to make it sound better than it had actually been...she'd never know how it really went.

"Well, today's off to a good start," George muttered from across the table. Hermione laughed dryly, still picking at the eggs she no longer had the appetite to eat.

Fred finally stood up after what seemed like an eternity and started to walk back to his original seat next to Hermione. He strutted with confidence like normal, unless that was just an act...

He took his seat, and took a drink of juice, then continued eating like nothing had just happened.

"Well?" she asked anxiously after a few moments of silence had passed. "Did you boys have a nice chat?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"I told him the truth." Fred said blandly.

"And?"

"He said something along the lines of 'Mum won't approve of this', I'm the one Mione loves', and 'I can't believe you, my own brother'. So basically the things Ron says to me on a daily basis. Don't worry about him Hermione, he's just being a prat." Fred glanced back down at Ron, who was still staring at the couple angrily, and Hermione sensed that that wasn't the only things that were said...


	10. A Walk To Remember

**A/N**: _This chapter might seem a bit weird because I'm doing a bit of mental cleaning if that makes sense. I got off the path that I wanted to be on big time and yeah. It's quite a bit of fluff i will say. This ended up being my favorite chapter yet. Anywho, I hope YOU enjoy! Don't forget to review and all of that good stuff because it makes me smile. A lot. And want to write more faster. :))))_

After dinner, Fred and Hermione made their way to the common room together slowly. He'd offered her his arm with a smile, the most gentlemanly thing he could think of to do, and her hand now rested comfortably in his elbow. They'd waited for the Great Hall to mostly clear out before leaving which gave them an opportunity to actually be alone for once without worrying about people interrupting them. Hermione couldn't help but think about how nice it was to simply be with Fred, and how just being alone with him made her feel safe in a way. Like everything was under control, especially with their relationship. The whole one day they'd spent together had been pretty hectic as far as first days go. Hopefully things would calm down a bit now that Ron apparently knew about their relationship. Although, Hermione still had no clue what Fred actually said to Ron, and whether he really knew about their relationship or not, she was too tired to care. The look on his face when he sat down at the table again told a different story than the one Fred had told her aloud. She decided she must have been seeing things though. Fred seemed perfectly normal now, laughing and joking with her. Just as the approached the Fat Lady he paused.

"So, since our Ron knows..." he began, a bit nervously. "Do you think we could be, er, not secretive?" He was afraid Hermione would still be uncomfortable being public about the two of them. She wasn't one who typically condoned PDA. Fred didn't plan on doing anything too couple-y in front of everyone, but he was still afraid she'd say no to even quick kisses every now and then.

Hermione was thinking quite the opposite however. She was, quite frankly, taken aback at his question. She'd assumed he had already forgotten that it was a "secret" what with the way they'd been on the walk back. "Of course!" she chirped. "I would love to be _not secret_." A huge grin was plastered to her face. She was beyond excited to walk into the common room and see everyone's reactions when they noticed "Is that one of the Weasley twins? With his arm around Granger?"

Fred laughed in relief. "Thank Merlin. That secret stuff is stressful, and it's only been one day! I can't imagine doing that long term." He laughed again, feeling giddy. Hermione laughed along with him. She was equally as giddy and worn out from the single "secret" day.

"True, which is shocking. We didn't do much to keep it a secret anyway. I suppose it was more of a mind over matter situation. In any case...it was horrible to think about. Secrets, that is, not our relationship..." She was back to being nervous, Hermione realized. She'd been rambling again. It was something she'd really have to work on.

"Don't you worry, love. I knew what you meant," Fred murmured, a small smile still playing around his mouth. "Anyway, shall we?" he asked, gesturing to the portrait door.

"Oh, young love," the Fat Lady sighed as they tried to give the password. The couple jumped back, startled. They'd completely forgotten she was there, and able to make comments for herself. Hermione laughed awkwardly, and looked down at her feet as a blush crept across her cheeks.

"Have I ever told you you're incredibly cute when you blush? Even more so than when you're thoroughly not embarrassed?" he asked, starry eyed and ignoring the Fat Lady swinging open. He'd been distracted from entering, anyhow. Her blush had always been one of his favorite of her features.

"Probably," she smiled. She knew how much he enjoyed teasing her just to see her blush. Fred moved to gently bring her chin up so she was looking in his eyes. He began to move closer to her, closing his eyes. It was as if time had stopped all together. Hermione blinked several times in succession before finally closing them for good. Fred's lips pressed down upon hers softly. They tasted metallic, but warm and slightly chapped. The blush on Hermione's cheeks only deepened and spread.

They kissed lasted only for a moment, due to the Fat Lady clearing her throat obnoxiously loudly behind them. It seemed like an eternity, though hey both wished it could have been longer at the same time. It was perfect. Fred took a step back, and opened his eyes.

"Well that was...nice," Hermione said softly. Fred chuckled and slipped his hand into hers.

"C'mon, let's get inside before people start spreading any big rumors about the scandalous new couple," he teased with a wink.


	11. (BONUS) Ron and Fred's Discussion

**A/N:** _This isn't a real chapter, just an outtake. I got a request to post the conversation that Fred and Ron had at the dinner table after Ron's outburst so here you are!_

"Listen Ron," Fred started as he dot down next to his younger brother. "You know that I'm not going to be here at Hogwarts much longer so just _let me have this._ I sincerely care about her, I do. I have since my third year, and now she's finally mine. Please don't mess this up for me. I know she's already nervous to be with me at all, and with the added pressure from you, it might just push her far enough to leave me even if it's just the first day." Fred was practically begging Ron, but it was all he could do. He couldn't turn this into a joke, not something so serious. Ron seemed to understand for a moment, but his old mind frame quickly returned.

"What about me?!" he demanded. I've liked her for a little over a year now, too! This isn't fair!"

Fred exhaled impatiently. "I told you, I'm leaving in just a few months. If you can get her to want to date you after that, fine."

"You know mum won't approve in the meantime. For Hermione's sake, i might add," Ron growled. It was true that Molly might try to convince Hermione to date any of her other sons...well, not George, of course. She'd always seen the twins falling for girls with similar personalities to their own, who would appreciate a good prank now and then. Nothing like perfect prefect Hermione Granger. Fred tried to ignore this new thought.

"Just know that I won't just forget about her when I leave. I'll owl her. And I'll even visit Hogsmeade just to see her. You'll see. Your job trying to make her change her mind isn't going to be a piece of cake if I have anything to do with it," Fred assured Ron. There was no way he'd ever let Hermione think for a second that he'd found someone else outside of Hogwarts or that he'd forgotten about her in the hustle and bustle of his new life.

"Yeah, well, we'll see about if she just forgets about you or not," Ron grumbled bitterly. He picked up his fork and resumed eating, apparently done with the conversation. Fred had made a good argument and Ron now realized just how much of a "crush" his brother had on Hermione. He'd always known that Fred thought Hermione was cute like that, practically all the Gryffindor guys did, save Harry and a few others. But he never entertained the idea that it might be more than that.


	12. Cat's Outta The Bag

_ A/N: Alright, back to normal chapters! This one is a bit longer than normal I think? Hope you enjoy! Don't forget to review and tell me everything you think, what I should do differently, what you'd like to see, anything! It's all appreciated! Alsoo, I'm almost to 100 follows on this story! So I just wanted to say thank you to all of you. You make me smile. Okay, now get on to Fremione! :) _

"I think I'll just head straight to bed," Hermione murmured through a yawn as she and Fred entered the common room. "I'm not too sure Ronald would like to be in the company of me yet anyway..." She sighed. Of course Ron would be angry again. When wasn't that daft boy angry?

Fred laughed dryly and squeezed Hermione's hand softly. "_He_ doesn't want to be in the company of _you_? Trust me love, he'd much rather be in your company than mine. Besides, I want to be in your company. Don't go to bed just yet." He looked down into her big brown eyes and smiled, trying to comfort her. He knew how much it hurt her to think Ron resented the relationship that was making her so happy. "Besides, Ron'a a git. Nobody cares about what he thinks anyway."

Hermione laughed quietly, but continued staring at the floor. Ron hadn't noticed their appearance in the common room yet, luckily, as they'd mainly stayed in the very front of the room to which Ron had his back turned. George however, had immediately jumped up from his sit to come greet (or harass, Hermione had assumed immediately) the couple.

"Evening," he drawled with a raised eye brow. "How is our lovely couple doing this fine evening? Getting back a bit late, don't you think? What in the world could have stalled you two so long?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm. George winked and threw his arm around Hermione's shoulder.

She rolled her eyes and tried to duck out from under his arm. "We're just fine George, thank you," she muttered ignoring his second question, and moved closer to Fred. She leaned into his side, hoping George would back down a bit.

"Just a bit of wild snogging in Snape's storeroom before we stopped here is all, Georgie. What, do you think we're animals?!"

"Fred!" Hermione complained, and hit his arm. Her cheeks flushed red but she buried her face in Fred's robes to hide it. It's not like George needed anything more to taunt her about.

"Don't worry Mione, George knows I'm only teasing," he said and kissed the top of her head, taking in the pleasant scent of her shampoo...green apples.

"Oh, Granger, you're gonna have to get used to this kind of stuff if you wanna stick around with Freddie for these next couple months," George laughed and crossed his arms.

"Who says it will only be a couple of months?" Hermione demanded, re-revealing her face and glaring at George. Did Fred only see her as a short-term sort of thing? Why else would his very own twin be so confident that they wouldn't last long?

"Er...George...!" Fred began, slightly panicked. He waved his hands a bit in front of him to warn his twin to stop while he was ahead. "She hasn't-"

"Well that's when we're leaving Hogwarts! Just two more months! Haven't forgotten already, have you?" George was staring at Hermione like she had six heads.

A thousand emotions were rushing through Hermione at the same time. Confusion, panic, anger, sadness, more confusion..._What did he mean, leaving Hogwarts?_ she thought blankly. Why hadn't Ron mentioned the Weasley's were leaving Hogwarts? Or Ginny? What was Molly thinking?! She couldn't pull her children out of school in the middle of the year!

"She, erm...hasn't exactly finished her note yet George..." Fred mumbled, running a hand through his hair and staring at the floor. "That's what I was trying to say. Before I was interrupted..." he shot his twin a glare.

"What's going on Fred?" Hermione whispered, wide-eyed and pale as a ghost now.

Fred inhaled deeply. "George and I are leaving Hogwarts. We've come to the conclusion that...us staying here isn't helping us in the least. We're going to be opening a shop in Diagonal Alley, a joke shop."

"And you planned to tell me that through a note?" Hermione scoffed. The pain on Fred's face was obvious.

"It wasn't a solid plan until a few days ago," he explained. "Nobody knows yet, save us three now." Hermione softened a bit at this. She was the only one who knew of their plan...

"So you're just going to walk out the front door then?" she asked sarcastically. Relief washed through Fred. She was still angry...but he could tell he'd be able to get through to her. George had slowly backed away at this point, giving Fred and Hermione a tad more privacy than they'd had before, although they still stood in the middle of an occupied common room.

"It's going to be a big ordeal actually," he said, grinning. "Fireworks, broomsticks, the whole shebang. And once we get out we've already got ownership of the shop. It's got a flat above it where we'll live."

Hermione's arms were crossed, and she stares blankly at Fred. "What about us, then?" she asked quietly. "Obviously we won't be seeing much of each other." There was no way they could make a new relationship work based solely on owls back and forth for the remainder of the school year.

"That's the best part Mione!" he exclaimed. A look of hurt spread across her face. Fred realized what it sounded like he was saying. "Oh, no!" he said and pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her. "You didn't let me finish. There's a passageway here in Hogwarts that leads directly into the flat...it's how we found the shop and got the idea actually. We've been there and back countless times this year already to set up and get ready to move in."

"You want me to sneak out of the castle to visit you!?" she asked in horror. Although...it did sound a little bit appealing. All her life Hermione had followed every rule in the book. What was just this one thing, especially one as important as seeing Fred?

"If that's okay..." he said slowly, fearing that Hermione would be too scared to sneak away. He'd had this all planned out and written in that note...if only she'd just read that and had time to mull it over before they had this discussion...

Hermione was quiet for a bit. "I...yeah. I can do that," she squeaked. "You'll just have to show me the path first," she said, smiling. And just as she thought this year couldn't get any more crazy...


	13. Author's Note

A/N: I've been getting the majority of my reviews lately saying that they like the story, but it is moving too fast for their liking and trust me, I agree wholeheartedly. And I'm really ticked off at I do have an explanation. When I started this story, and I had written the beginning chapters for the very first time, the part where Fred pretended to be George in the girls common room didn't happen. So when it came around to rewriting and posting, changing my entire plotline seemed like a fantastic at the time but it wasn't and now I'm trying to gradually move back to my old plotline and it's getting a bit messy. I am so so so sorry. I've debated on starting completely over and abandoning this fic, but I have mixed feeling about that. So, tell me what you think about that. If I quit with this story and start another it will be different. But still Fremione. And probably better. So yeah, tell me what you think! In the meantime, I'm still writing the next chapter and it should be up in the next few days if I get enough response that says to keep going! :)


	14. Of Long Paths and Flats

_He did say seven o'clock, didn't he? By the statue of the knight with one arm? _Hermione fussed, checking the time for the eighth time in the past thirty seconds. It was approximately four minutes after seven. Just as it had been last time she looked.

She was extremely nervous, her heart beating faster than she ever thought possible. _I can't believe I actually agreed to this...sneaking out of the castle. What was I thinking?!_ she thought in a panic. She was a _prefect_ for crying out loud! If they got caught...she didn't even want to imagine the trouble they'd get in. _He's got three more minutes, then I'm leaving! _she resolved in an attempt to console herself. At least she could say she thought about saving her perfect record. She sighed. _One more minute...at least I'll know how to get there on my own now for when he's gone, _she thought, sadly, trying to forget that he was leaving here soon.

"Well hello there, Miss Granger! Fancy meeting you here," Fred's voice came from behind her. She turned quickly and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace, burying her face in his chest. _He really is quite toned,_ she thought distantly. _Must be all the Quidditch he plays..._ She tried to shake those thoughts from her mind. They had more important things to attend to than Fred's body.

"Take me now, before I change my mind," she ordered, her voice a bit strained.

"Oh, c'mon love, I've done this a million times. What are the odds of us getting caught the million and first time? And don't try to lie, I know your worried," he said, stepping back and gripping her arms loosely. He looked down at her for a moment, then kissed her forehead. "Trust me, Mione."

She sighed dramatically. "I trust you. Now, whisk me away to this mysterious shop slash flat! Have you had a chance to do anything with the place yet? Any furniture, or painting or..." Hermione continued asking questions about the shop and flat the whole way through the path, and Fred answered every one, a smile on his face the whole time. He was glad she was so interested, that she cared.

The path was mostly dark, as the only light they had came from their wands. It seemed to be a dirt floor and walls made of solid rock. Almost like a cave, but much smaller. They walked for about fifteen minutes before finally coming to a stop in a seemingly random spot on the journey.

"Is it nice and cozy? Not like this path I hope..." she inquired. "And why have we stopped? We're in the middle of the path...You better not have gotten us lost, Fred Weasley!" she said, poking him in the chest.

"Just give me a second to explain Hermione," he chuckled and took out his wand. "You're going to want to remember this." He ran his hand along the wall on the right, searching for something. "Aha! Gotcha...alright Mione, put your hand right here," he said, taking her hand and guiding it to the spot where his lay. He moved his and set hers in the spot. "Feel that indent there? Perfect size for a wand, eh?" He raised his eyebrows, and placed his wand into the narrow indent. Suddenly, the wall seemed to crack in two. The pieces moved apart slowly, revealing what appeared to be a living room.

There was a table in the middle of the room, with candles on all four corners, and two plates of food in the middle. A couch resided to their immediate right, behind the table. There were a few pictures on the apparently pale beige walls, mostly of the Weasley family together on Christmas, it appeared from the jumpers the family wore in each picture. Hermione's mouth was slightly ajar. She hadn't realized the twins could pull of something so...comfortable. Home-like.

"Fred this is...it's so..." She stepped into the room, speechless. Fred chuckled from behind her.

"I know. I don't know how Georgie and I did it either." The couple stood in silence for just a second, admiring the room. "Just wait til you see the store!" he exclaimed, obviously extremely proud. "But that has to wait. I'm starved." He grabbed her hand and brought her to the table with the food.

"Hermione Granger...welcome to our first official date."

**A/N**: _I got an overwhelming response to my previous authors note about abandoning this fic, and I've decided to continue. I actually love this chapter, don't know what you ally thought though. I just wanna thank every one whadvises was me to keep going! Don't forget to review :)_


	15. Happy

"How did you...when...did you cook this?" Hermione was a bit flustered. She became suddenly conscious of the old jeans she was wearing. She'd thought they'd only be popping in for a second and what was the point of dressing up for a walk down a dirt path?

Fred chuckled. "I had a bit of help from Mum...indirectly, might I add. She still doesn't know we're leaving but that's beside the point. George had the good mind to grab one of her cookbooks before we left for school this year, thinking we could modify some of the recipes for pranks. Turns out I'd be using it for the actual intended purpose," he said. He had shoved both of his hands into his pockets, and started to walk to the table.

Hermione stood frozen in her place. The look on her face was impossible to read. Her mouth was slightly ajar, and she repeatedly began to speak but seemed to lose her train of thought just seconds after. Finally, gaining back her sanity, she spoke. "Fred. This may be- no, this *is* the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me." She paused and smiled. "Thank you."

"It's my pleasure, m'lady," he said, taking her hand. "Now let's eat. I'm half starved!"

They sat down on the floor together, one of Fred's hands supporting him near Hermione's hip, as his arm wrapped around her body. The laughed and talked almost non-stop for about an hour before settling into a comfortable silence. Hermione's head now rested on Fred's chest. She was snuggled up close to him, feeling at peace. Her eyes were closed, and a tiny smile rested on her lips. Fred placed his lips on the top of her head, enjoying the feel of her pressed against him.

"Could we never leave?" Hermione murmured. Fred chuckled.

"Would be nice, wouldn't it?" He sighed. "I think we might be missed though." He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost nine o'clock. "We'd better start heading back, speaking of which."

Hermione groaned. "Oh, fine," she sighed. She stood up and cleared their dishes with her wand lazily. Fred was now standing in front of her. She looked up, and made a snap decision. She stood up on her tip toes and pressed her mouth to his. She brought her arms up around his neck, and he leaned down just a little, and put his hands on her hips. The kiss was even better than the first one they'd shared outside of the portrait hole. It felt..._right_.

"We really need to go, Mione," Fred said, chuckling. This was a new side to Hermione, one that he liked.

"You're right," she said and took a step back, blushing, which caused Fred to laugh again. He took her hand and they began back towards Hogwarts.

**A/N**: _Mini-chap because I can't sleep. Hope you enjoyed! _


	16. Go To Sleep Little Mione

Hermione returned to the common room late, as she and Fred had dawdled a bit longer than intended in the halls. They'd decided that staying out past the curfew wasn't nearly as rebellious as sneaking out of the castle, and they could spare a few minutes. But those few minutes turned into almost an hour of just strolling through the halls, hand in hand and laughing together before they'd thought to check the time. Fred had walked her to the steps of the girls dormitory and kissed her cheek before bidding her goodnight.

Hermione walked up the stairs in a contented daze, almost dreamlike, and entered the dormitory as quietly as she could before lying down and trying to get some rest. A dull pain suddenly grew in the back of her head, one that she couldn't ignore.

O_f course_, she thought. _There's no way I could just have a simple perfect evening without something going wrong._ Hermione twisted and turned in bed, trying to find a position that gave her at least a little bit of relief from the headache that had gradually become more and more painful.

_This is ridiculous. I don't want to wake up Madam Pomfrey at this hour though..._ She sighed aloud, sitting up in bed. _I suppose I could go down to the common room and read. Maybe that will kill this headache_.

She turned to grab "Hogwarts: A History" off of her nightstand and tip toed out of the room, making sure she could hear all of the other girls sleeping before shutting the door behind her quietly. Once in the clear, she practically ran down the stone steps to get near the fire. The castle was cold in the winter months, especially at this hour.

Just as she was about to step into the common room, she froze in her spot.

"Hermione?" a sleepy voice came from across the room. The owner began to sit up, and run a hand through his hair.

"Ron?" She called back, making her way to the couch and taking a seat. "What are you doing down here, it's almost midnight!"

He hesitated, in a bit of shock. Hermione was the last person he'd expected to see in the common room at this hour, and he didn't want to waste any time trying to win her over. Even if Fred _was_ still here.

"Well I could ask you the same question?" He tried to sound casual, like he was teasing her, but it came out more interrogative. He silently cursed at himself.

Hermione stared at him for a moment. What was his problem with her lately? Obviously dating Fred had something to do with that behavior, but this was completely ridiculous! He was going too far. She looked down at the floor after a moment and decided to answer truthfully without risking another fight. "I've just got a pounding headache and couldn't sleep is all," she said softly.

"Ah. Sorry," he muttered and added, "I was just having trouble sleeping too..." after a second thought. Of course, he'd been having trouble sleeping because he'd been watching the Marauders Map and saw her and Fred return together late, but he wasn't going to mention that to her...

They sat in silence for a few minutes, leaning against opposite arms of the couch, both in a half-asleep half-awake state. Neither wanted to say anything, and ruin the first time they had in recent memory that they weren't arguing about something. Even if they had been fighting a lot lately, they were still best friends.

"I'm not angry at you Mione," Ron announced suddenly. "I don't particularly love the idea of you and Fred but...what can I do?" He laughed awkwardly. "I, erm...I don't want you to not be a part of my life anymore," he tried to continue.

A small smile was forming on Hermione's face. She looked away from Ron to hide it. She'd breathed out a sigh of relief at his confession, but she didn't want him to think that she spent most of her time pouting about the fact that he was angry either.

"It's okay, Ron," she began when she was sure he was done talking. "I know what you mean...I didn't think you'd be so upset at first, but I suppose that was my own fault then, a lack of judgement."

Ron stood up and stretched, smiling a little. "I'm going to head back up to bed," he said, content with the way their conversation had gone.

**A/N**: _Another short one, but a necessary one. You'll see. Don't forget to review lovelies_!


	17. Mystery, Inc

**A/N:** _Sorry about the super long delay between this chapter and the last one, it's just that my mind has been taken over by a band called 5 Seconds of Summer and I honestly thought I'd only posted the last chapter like 3 days ago but it was really like over a week. Whoops. Anywho, I'm writing this authors note before I write the chapter and I don't plan on coming back to edit it after I finish because I'll probably go straight to sleep hehe...anywho, let's see how this turns out shall we? P.S. THANK YOU TO THE ANON I GOT ON TUMBLR WHO FORCED ME TO DO THIS SORT OF. YOU ARE MY FAVORITE PERSON. COME OFF ANON YO._

Hermione awoke with a start in the morning, still in the same spot where she lie last night during her conversation with Ron. A few people sat in the common room and glanced awkwardly at her when she sat up abruptly and gasped. She ignored the rude stares for the moment, because she had much bigger things on her mind. Her headache hadn't gone. In fact, it was worse. Much worse. She groaned internally and picked herself up off the couch and began towards the dormitory so she could get ready for the day. She stared at her feet, letting her head hang loose hoping it would relieve some of the pressure.

She moseyed up the stairs slowly, moping, wishing she didn't have to go to class at all today. Maybe a visit to Madame Pomfrey wouldn't be such a bad idea now that it was day time...this wasn't a normal headache, there was no denying. Hopefully there would be some spell or potion that could make it all go away. She sighed and resolved to pay a visit to the hospital wing as soon as she was dressed. There wasn't even time for breakfast at this level of pain.

"Hermione? Are you okay?" Apparently she hadn't been alone. Or someone had forgotten something. Hermione turned to see Parvati entering their dormitory at a fast paced walk. "You look like you're about to faint! You're walking all wobbly and you're pale as Nearly Headless Nick..." She put her arm around Hermione's shoulders and walked with her over to Hermione's bed, where she immediately sat down.

"Well, er, now that you mention it I am feeling a bit woozy..." Hermione slurred, black spots clouding her vision. "Could you maybe get Madame Pomfrey or Professor McGonagall? I've got this...this headache and..."

* * *

"I dunno what happened, Professor! I had just run back to Gryffindor Tower to grab my potions book...and she looked all wobbly like she was about to be sick, so I helped her to her bed to sit down and she started to tell me she had a headache, and then she fainted right in the middle of her sentence!" Parvati's voice was frantic, and unfortunately shrill enough to wake Hermione from her blacked out state. She knew she'd be asked lots of questions the moment she blinked an eye though, so she elected to pretend to be knocked out still. Luckily her head did feel a considerable amount better, although a dull pain was still there. She heard Professor McGonagall sigh from the side of her bed.

"Yes, thank you Parvati. You're free to go to class now, hurry along." The sound of Parvati's shoes tapping the cold stone floor echoed through the hospital wing, followed by the sound of a door closing. They sat in silence for a moment when Professor McGonagall began to speak again. "It makes no sense, Poppy! Two students, both fall ill the exact same way, arriving unconscious at almost the exact same time. Something is not right here!"_ What?! _Two students? Who else was here?! She dared to open one of her eyes cautiously, but only slightly. She tried to glance around the room as much as she could and was greeted by a mess of red hair in the next bed over. _No.._.she thought._ It can't be Fred! That'd be too much of a coincidence. _

"I know, I know," Madame Pomfrey muttered. And it's nothing like the muggle flu either. I've already checked for that. There's nothing muggle about what's wrong with either student. I just can't figure out what it really is, is the issue." The sound of glasses clinking together came from across the room, and the sound of walking. "I've given them both a potion to test for dragon pox and those both came back negative. This one tests for curses that may have been placed on them. Although I highly doubt it," she added quietly after second thought.

Hermione decided now would be a prime time to 'wake up'. She didn't want to have to pretend to be asleep as Madame Promfrey poured some potion down her throat. That would not be a pleasant experience. She blinked a few times in succession and tried to sit up, but was unable. She was too weak still...ugh. Professor McGonagall was too engrossed in watching Madame Pomfrey administer the potion to Fred to notice Hermione's small movements. "Er...Professor?" Hermione squeaked.

"Ms. Granger!" she exclaimed, turning back to the girl's bed. She frowned when she saw Hermione trying exceptionally hard to sit up. "Oh, lie back down dear, you need to rest, really." She paused, her brow furrowing. "How are you feeling?" she asked hesitantly. She glanced back over to Fred's bed. Madame Pomfrey had stopped giving him the potion and was watching Hermione as well.

"A bit better," Hermione mumbled. "Er...this headache has gone away some. I'm just feeling weak now." She spoke quickly, wanting to change the subject away from herself. She knew she would be okay. It was Fred she was worried about. "I'm sorry Professor, but is Fred going to be okay?" Her voice was thick with concern. Professor McGonagall didn't reply right away. She continued to watch Fred steadily. He'd received all the potion now, as Madame Pomfrey went back to the task after hearing that Hermione's condition was improving.

McGonagall turned back to Hermione slowly, staring at the foot of the bed. "I'm afraid we're not sure what his state is right now...in fact, we aren't quite sure what's wrong at all. With the both of you. But it seems that the issue is related. Ms. Granger, are you close with Mr. Weasley? Were the two of you in each other's company recently, with or without others?"

Hermione didn't know what to say. Of course they'd been together last night, alone, and not even in the castle. But there was no way she could tell McGonagall that...she needed a cover story, one Fred could catch on quickly too, and fast.


End file.
